Chinese President, Xi Jinping, sees a world in turmoil that will require the country to display more independence, according to a speech from January that was only made public on Friday.
“As long as we can stand on our own and be self-reliant, and maintain a vibrant flow of goods and services domestically, then we will be invincible no matter how the storm changes internationally.
“Nobody can beat us or choke us to death,” he said in the January 11, speech to students at a school run by the country’s communist party.
It is not uncommon in China for major speeches to be made public long after being given.
This way, the speeches also become available to party members for study.
It was released on Friday by Qiushi, a party-run magazine whose name translates as “Seeking Truth.”
In the speech, he also noted how China managed to quell the coronavirus better than most other countries and how China needed to find the right balance between opening up to the rest of the world, but also maintaining self-reliance.
Giving the speech on Jan. 11, Xi would have been speaking just five days after rioters attempted to storm the U.S. Capitol.
At that point too, vaccine drives were only starting in most of the Western world.
Since then, they have taken a slow start in many countries, but have seen great leaps in places like Britain, Israel and the U.S.
